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WSU can’t zone in, loses to UCLA

Posted by Vince Grippi

Jan. 23, 2010 5:26 p.m. • 7 comments

COUGARS

Is it as goes Klay Thompson, so goes WSU? It was Saturday, as Thompson struggled mightily against a UCLA zone defense that was keyed to stop him (see the comment from Tyler Honeycutt in the game story) and only Reggie Moore came to his rescue. We have the game story, in its unedited version on the link. Tomorrow, we’ll put out our usual day-after post, with lots of notes, thoughts and comments..

••••••••••

• Here’s the gamer …

LOS ANGELES – One comeback a weekend. That may be Washington State’s quota. At least on the road.

After rallying from 15-points down to defeat USC on Thursday night, the Cougars found themselves in the same position against UCLA on Saturday afternoon.

But this time there would be no heroics in the final minutes. Instead, after pulling to within seven, WSU faded late and lost 74-62 to the Bruins before 8,349 at Pauley Pavilion.

“It always takes a lot of energy out of your team when you’ve got to come back, especially because we had to come back from Thursday,” said WSU freshman Reggie Moore, who led everyone with 24 points. “It’s going to be hard to do it two games in a row.”

And darn near impossible considering the way Klay Thompson was shooting.

The Pac-10’s leading scorer buried an uncontested 5-foot floater at the buzzer. But all that gimme did was make him 5 for 17 from the floor. That’s from WSU’s top offensive threat, who came in shooting almost 46 percent from the floor.

He was also draining 37.2 percent of his 3-pointers, but Saturday was just 2 of 9. All against a UCLA team that’s moved this season from Ben Howland’s favored man-to-man defense to a 2-3 matchup zone.

“Klay had some wide-open looks that he usually makes,” Moore said. “It wasn’t their zone that was messing him up. He was wide open.”

Not that often, though. Not if the Bruins could help it.

“Anytime we (saw) him running anywhere, we yelled out where he was,” said 6-foot-7 UCLA freshman Tyler Honeycutt, who led the Bruins with eight rebounds and added two blocked shots. “We closed out for the shot (hard). We would rather have him drive than shoot.”

Forced to put it on the floor, the 6-6 Thompson just couldn’t get to the rim against UCLA’s packed-in defense, turning the ball over five times in the attempt.

“They know where he is,” Bone said of the Bruin defense that allowed a 48-percent shooting WSU tem to hit just 21 of 59 shots. “They’re right there on the shot, forcing him to drive.

“Once in a while he was able to drive, but he’s probably a better shooter than a driver and they’re playing the shot.”

The Bruin bigs – Honeycutt, James Keefe, Nikola Dragovic and Reeves Nelson – not only clogged the middle on defense, they attacked the rim on offense. Those four outscored their WSU counterparts 45-18.

Then again, other than an occasional drive, the Cougars never really tried to get the ball in the paint.

“We didn’t do a good job of getting the ball inside,” Bone said. “When we did get it inside, we were not very successful. It kind of goes hand-in-hand. When you’re not having success, you don’t do it quite as much.”

“We weren’t patient enough,” Moore admitted. “Sometimes I think when we’re struggling, we kind of start rushing. We’ve got to believe in our offense, believe in what our coaches are saying and settle down.”

After trailing by three at the half, the Cougars did just that, getting within 34-32 on one of Moore’s six 3-pointers.

But after UCLA stretched the lead to four, WSU (14-6 overall, 4-4 in Pac-10 play) went nearly 4 minutes without scoring, rushing through their possessions with a couple passes and a shot.

The Bruins (9-10, 4-3) were the opposite and the result was an 11-0 game-clinching run. They attacked with patience, running their offense until in many instances either Nelson (19 points on 6-of-8 shooting) or Dragovic (18 on 6-of-11) finished off the possession with a basket. UCLA shot 59 percent, 73.7 in the second half.

“I don’t think our defense was very good all in all, inside or outside today,” Bone said after the Cougars fell to 2-51 at UCLA. “They exposed us in a few areas.”

On the offensive end as well.

“They just packed it in,” said Moore, who was mistakenly introduced as Reggie Miller, then shot like the former UCLA All-American, scoring WSU’s first 12 points. “That’s what a zone’s good to do, pack it in. So we’ve got to try to hit some shots from outside. We just missed out today.”

And missed a chance to sweep at the LA schools for only the second time.

“I really thought we had some decent looks at the basket,” Bone said. “There were times we executed but we just simply did not convert.

“It’s time to go home, regroup and go play the Huskies. We’ll be fine.”

•••

• That’s it for now. We’ll be back in the morning. Until then …

Seven comments on this post so far. Add yours!

EllensburgCoug on January 23 at 6:33 p.m.
Zone defenses seem to be latest in thing in PAC-10 basketball. It appears to work and the Cougs use it a lot themselves. Unfortunately, it works against the Cougs too. This afternoon was a prime example.
One can shoot over the zone but, sadly for the Cougs, its best shooter, Thompson, couldn’t today.
A spilt on the road is great, yet, somehow it could have been better.
Give credit to UCLA. They were better today and deserved the win.
Go Cougs!
coug79 on January 23 at 7:28 p.m.
Tip of the hat to the hated Bruins. They earned the win.
OlyCoug on January 23 at 8:41 p.m.
What is UP with this league? UA looks to be cruising against ASU in Tempe. UCLA was in ninth, and now they’re fighting for second. The Huskies suddenly suck.

Today was a butt whippin’ by UCLA. Blocks and steals, shooting, energy, game plan…they all went the Bruins’ way.

I’d like to blame the refs for putting Casto in foul trouble on the Freak-Call-Of-The-Game made in the first second of the contest, but that had little effect in a game UCLA dominated. Still, I wonder where these guys pull some of these calls out of. I watched the call three times in slo-mo just out of interest for what the guy could have been watching. It’s still a mystery, but those zebras sure do add an element of “fun” to the game, don’t they?

Next game will be big. Hope the Cougs are ready to face a very hostile crowd and very P.O.’d Husky team.
ECoug01 on January 23 at 9:43 p.m.
wow rim had a lid on it. how many little put backs just rattled all over the rim and out..

Our DEFENSE still needs MAJOR MAJOR work..
fitz on January 23 at 10:26 p.m.
It was not a foul on the opening tip. Casto stole the tip, meaning he tipped the ball on the way up, which is a violation. The announcers first said it was a foul, but corrected themselves.
Coug4Ever on January 24 at 12:32 a.m.
I see three huge problems with this team that will hold them back.

First, we need another quality big man, preferably one who can score, but at least one who can defend! When Casto gets into foul trouble, we get killed in the paint. Reeves (a true freshman, but with a jurnior’s body) was really the difference in this game, scoring at will inside. As good as Enquist was last Saturday, he was that bad today, totally invisible. He was constantly in bad position on rebounds, and was no threat on offense. When Casto went out, we truly became a perimeter team! I wonder what happened to Watson, dinged up or doghouse?

Second, we need more three point shooters! If everybody in the Pac Ten is going to zone us, we need some guys who can shoot teams out of the zone. Until Capers and Thames develop into decent three point threats, teams will continue to key on Klay and we’ll continue to struggle against the zone. If we have a second or third option, then we can win these games.

Third, Klay needs to improve on both ends of the floor. He is obviously more than a spot up shooter, he made big improvements in the off season, but he needs to work twice as hard now that the word is out on him. I know a lot of people think Klay is the second coming, but he’s just not that good (yet). It seemed like every time he drove with the ball today he turned it over. Yes he’s got the best stroke in the league, but he has no range. Last Thursday, Cal’s point guard burned us from WAAAAAYYYYY downtownd, he was putting up threes from three feet beyond the arc. It seems with Klay that unless his toes are close to the arc, he gets nothing but the front of the rim. Reggie has better range, he put up a couple of really long range rainbows that fell today. Klay needs to find a way to get his shots. He also needs to find a way to set up his team mates when his shots aren’t falling. Most of all, he needs to stop being frustrated when things aren’t going his way, because it was obvious that this defense was in his head, and he started to press, which just made him play worse!
DPort on January 25 at 7:25 p.m.
Don’t you think it’s probably a little hard for klay not to get frustrated when so many people are putting the weight of the team on his shoulders. I think if there wasn’t so much pressure on him he’d be more relaxed and the shots would start falling again. Just a thought. I mean, he’s getting ripped by everyone whenever he doesn’t put up 20+ points. That can’t make things easy. No one is as concerned about many other problems with the team. Like how many times did Nikola leave passes out in the open? Reggie didn’t get to the line once in the game. Or how about our team only getting a combine 10 assists. Blaming Klay when he’s off is getting very old. Last time I checked he can only play 4 years. Whats going to happen when he graduates or goes pro? I guess we’ll need to find a new scapegoat.